Food delivery in Thailand, and the reception desk problem.

The landscape in short

Four names cover almost all of it. LINE MAN, which grew out of the LINE ecosystem and became the Thai market leader with the deepest restaurant coverage, including thousands of small kitchens that never appear on an international platform. Grab Food, which sits inside the Grab app you probably already have and carries the strongest regional coverage outside Bangkok. foodpanda, the other broad platform, historically strong in provincial cities. And Robinhood, the Thai owned platform that launched with a low commission model, has changed hands, and whose coverage is narrower than the others; check whether it is live at your address before relying on it.

For a visitor, the sensible position is Grab plus one dedicated delivery app. For a resident, two dedicated apps, because the promotions differ, the restaurant lists differ and the one with nothing available in your soi tonight is rarely the same one twice.

How they compare

One qualification on English. All four apps present in English if you set the language, but the restaurant listings themselves are supplied by the restaurants, and a small kitchen's menu will be in Thai with no translation. This is where the photographs matter and where a translation app earns its place. The larger the restaurant, the more likely the menu is bilingual.

What it actually costs

Delivery in Thailand is inexpensive relative to almost anywhere comparable, which is why the volume is enormous. The structure has four parts and it is worth understanding each, because the headline delivery fee is only one of them and rarely the largest.

• The delivery fee itself, usually distance based, frequently discounted to zero or near zero by promotions, and typically modest for anything within a few kilometres.
• A platform or service fee, a small percentage or flat amount added at checkout.
• Menu markup. Prices in the app are often higher than in the restaurant, because the restaurant is covering commission. On an expensive order this is the biggest single difference from dining in.
• Surge pricing during rain and peak meal times, which affects the delivery fee and the wait, sometimes severely. Bangkok rain doubles delivery times.
• Minimum order thresholds on some restaurants, and a small order surcharge on others.
• Optional tip, offered at checkout.

All of these figures move constantly with promotions and with the platforms' commercial arrangements, so compare in the apps at the moment of ordering rather than assuming one is cheaper. The same restaurant can differ by twenty per cent between two platforms on the same evening.

Tipping, and the honest local practice

Tipping riders is not obligatory and Thailand is not a tipping culture in the American sense. In practice, adding a small tip in the app, or rounding up when paying cash, is normal and appreciated, and it matters more than it might elsewhere because riders are paid per delivery and are working in heat, rain and traffic. Twenty to fifty baht on an ordinary order is generous and unremarkable. In heavy rain, tip. During Songkran, tip. When you have ordered to the twenty eighth floor of a building where the lift queue takes ten minutes, tip. What you should not do is treat a large tip as a substitute for accurate delivery instructions; the rider would rather find your building easily.

The hotel problem

This is the part that catches people out, and it has nothing to do with the app. Hotels have policies about outside food, and those policies vary from relaxed to prohibitive with no way to tell from the outside. Some hotels accept deliveries at the front desk and send them up. Some require the guest to come down to the lobby and collect. Some restrict deliveries to the ground floor entirely. A minority of luxury properties discourage outside food altogether, and a few apply a corkage or tray charge, particularly in serviced apartments and residences.

The rule that never fails is to ask at check in, before you are hungry. One sentence to the front desk, and note the answer. Then, when ordering, put the collection arrangement in the delivery notes: the hotel name, the fact that the rider should come to the main lobby, and your telephone number. Riders in Bangkok deliver to hotels constantly and know the drill; what they cannot do is guess which of the three possible policies applies at your property tonight.

The condominium problem, which is worse

Bangkok condominium buildings, and the better ones especially, do not let delivery riders past the lobby. This is a security policy, it is universal enough to be assumed, and it means the delivery ends at the ground floor whatever the app says. Some buildings have a juristic office that will accept a food delivery and telephone you. Many have a designated delivery counter or a bank of parcel lockers, which are excellent for parcels and useless for hot food. Most simply expect you to come down.

Two habits solve nearly all of this. Always include a telephone number the rider can call, even though the app has one, and always drop an accurate map pin rather than relying on the typed address, because Thai addressing is genuinely difficult and our separate guide explains why. Answer the phone when it rings; a rider standing at the wrong gate with a bag of noodles will call, and if nobody answers, the order eventually goes away.

Ordering well, for a household

• Set the delivery address once, carefully, with a corrected pin, and save it with a clear label. Every subsequent order is then trivial.
• For a group order, order from one restaurant on one account rather than four orders from four phones arriving forty minutes apart.
• Thai spice levels in delivery apps are set by the restaurant, not the platform. If you need mild, say so in the notes and expect variance.
• Vegetarian and Jain requirements need to be written explicitly, in the notes, on every order. Fish sauce and oyster sauce are in a great deal of Thai cooking by default and are not treated as animal products by every kitchen.
• Halal restaurants are listed and filterable on the larger platforms in Bangkok; the Muslim quarters around the city have good delivery coverage.
• For a long stay, the same apps deliver groceries, pharmacy items and convenience store goods, which is often more useful than the restaurant function.
• The messenger function on LINE MAN and Grab will collect and deliver an object across the city, which resolves forgotten passports, documents and dry cleaning.

When not to use them

Delivery is not the answer for a client dinner, for anything that must arrive at a specific minute, or for food that does not travel; Thai food generally travels well, but crisp things do not, and a delicate dish from a serious kitchen is worse for the journey. In heavy rain, delivery times extend badly and cancellations rise, which is exactly when everyone orders. And for a household with staff, the market and the kitchen remain better than any application. The apps are for convenience and for the long tail, and at both they are excellent.

Delivery platform ownership, city coverage and fee structures in Thailand have changed repeatedly in recent years, and hotel and building policies vary property by property. Confirm which platforms serve your address in the apps themselves, and confirm the delivery policy with your hotel or building management on arrival.

This briefing is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Thai rules change frequently and individual cases differ. Verify current requirements with the relevant authorities, including the Immigration Bureau, the Board of Investment, the Land Department, the Department of Business Development and the Revenue Department, and take advice on your own facts before acting.